{one photo at a time}

Project Life

October 23, 2015

December 22 - December 31, 2014 | Week 52+

Christmas is here!

When it comes to the last week of the year, I have just fallen into the plan to just document the rest of the year all in one lump sum using whatever page protectors I need to tell my full story. I no longer follow the "one spread per week" since we have plenty happening with Christmas and there are always more days left in that final "week" of the year. Technically, Week 52 ended on the 28th of the year for me, but I need to have all of 2014 in one book... so it becomes Week 52 plus.

I also continued using Studio Calico's December 2014 Park Avenue Project Life kit and addons. I am not normally a purple person, but I have to say that I have loved the color in the mix for all of my holiday pictures for the month of December.

We kicked off this final week of the year back on the road. This time to my parents house where we continued being sick. That sick bug hit me and Elsie hard. As you can see from Chris' shopping trip, we where fitting it with all we had.

Lucky for us, we all felt better on Christmas Eve. We had plenty of cousin and family time.

Then, it was Christmas morning.

We woke up from a special delivery. Santa found us again at my parents' house.

We spoiled the big kids rotten with iPad minis. It was the one thing that was on their list that they were just itching to get. Santa kept things much more reasonable with a few games, movies, and books.

Then, the full day of activity must have hit us, because then we all started feeling under the weather again. Along with my brother and mom. BLAH!

We typically spend the evening with extended family on Christmas, but since they didn't wanted to be around sickies like us, we spent it at my parents house. Very low-key and lazy. It was actually a nice change of pace, but we missed the rest of the family. The kids especially missed seeing all of their cousins. We did get to spend one last evening together watching movies and playing games, though. ... And yes, I blurred a picture there. I am a good daughter who is being nice to my Mom who wasn't ready for her day by the time we left for our trip back home. She is always a good sport about letting me get that final picture of them with the kids before we head out the door. Love you, Mom!

We got back home where we just sat back and relaxed. I was still feeling that bug. I just couldn't shake it, but I did feel better just in time to celebrate saying goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015!

This almost brings my 2014 Album to a close. I still have the final closing page to complete and share. I have all the cards in their pocket, I just need the rest of my family to cooperate and fill their card out. Hopefully, I will be able to share that with you soon!

October 22, 2015

December 15 - December 21, 2014 | Week 51

Lots more Christmas memories being made.

This week I used up more of my Studio Calico December 2014 Park Avenue Project Life kits, other than the one 4x6 journal card. That baby came from Becky Higgins Plus One mini kit. I was in need a of a big journaler, and the water color was just meant to go with that smaller On Holiday card.

We had a big week of two little boys who can't get enough of each other, a work-at-home Dad, a boy and his lizard snuggles, and two Christmas school parties.

They day after the kids where done with school, Elsie got one icky bug... which ended up hitting each one of us throughout Christmas break. Some worse than others. UGH. But that didn't stop us from hitting the road for all of our Christmas festivities. First stop, Chris' parents.

October 21, 2015

December 08 - December 14, 2014 | Week 50

Christmas is in full swing with cookies, dressing up, programs, gathering, and shopping.

I worked with Studio Calico 2014 Project Life kits and a couple of Becky Higgins mini kits, Plus One & Lovely Editions. I just needed something that fit the bill for this layout, but still wanted to keep with the same colors for my December layouts.

This week we baked some cookies, dressed up in our Christmas best, and sent out our Christmas cards. As you can see, I had some issues printing out my journaling for this week. I tried using the other side of the card which was oriented for this horizontal layout, but it messed up. Oh well, I just flipped it over and ran with it like this.

Then we had a little boy who loves his mazes, cozy fires, the best Christmas program ever, Christmas gatherings, and lots of Christmas shopping too.

October 20, 2015

December 01 - December 07, 2014 | Week 49

Bring on that holiday cheer.

I pulled out Studio Calico's December 2014 Park Avenue Project Life kits to get busy with our December family memories. After needing a couple of good journal cards to write on, I cracked open Becky Higgins Favorite Things Core Kit Edition. This kit was the perfect compliment to use with the SC kit.

December kicked off with a sad goodbye to my Mom after a short visit, but it won't be long until we are all back together for Christmas! Elsie also turned in her cover design for her school's year book. I was so proud of her for trying, even though it never got chosen. We also had a library trip with a friendly game of checkers with Sam. He is really good at it! And of course the daily flip through of his sight words.

A little guy turned 7 months old! Time flies by so quickly. Looking at this little baby... where did he go? He is going to be 18 months old in less than three weeks. We also picked out the perfect Christmas tree and then decorated. We are so ready for Christmas!

October 02, 2015

November 24 - November 30, 2014 | Week 48

A thankful Thanksgiving.

I am loving the ability to do weekly summaries on those pretty 4x6 journal cards! I actually did those with the digital file and had them printed with my pictures because my printer was on the fritz. Super handy dandy and easy! This week was using Studio Calico's Thanksgiving card set from 2014 along with Becky Higgins Coral Core Kit Edition. As you can see now, the Coral Kit was the perfect compliment for my Fall pages.

We started off with a silly Sam (like always!), grocery shopping madness, and a trip to see the Man at work in his fancy office. We like to call it "fancy" because normally he as at any one of his several landfills that he is engineer at.

We had a special visitor for Thanksgiving dinner. My Mom decided to come down to Ohio last minute. This was the first Thanksgiving dinner we were able to cook and share with her. The kids had a blast spending more time with her. Elsie pulled out a scrapbook kit she received from her birthday a couple years ago. They spent lots of time sorting through a pile of extra pictures that I had printed off through out the years from past layouts. Sometimes, I have different sizes printed or extras that don't make the cut. Those I just toss in a pile. So glad that they found a home! We also did a little girls shopping. What would Thanksgiving weekend be without that!? And of course, games were played too. My Mom is the best gamer there is, wither that be video or board!

October 01, 2015

November 17 - November 23, 2014 | Week 47

Snow... Movies... Santa. Oh my!

This week was full of pictures. I actually love how this week really focused on the pictures. I have a card from Studio Calico's November 2014 Walden Project Life kit, Becky Higgins Seafoam and Coral Editions with word stickers from My Mind's Eye.

We kicked the week of with snow, a silly sleeper, a boy watching dino movies which inspired him to play with his, and a cute little stud muffin.

A boy got a new backpack (because his new one broke already!), some dinosaur paintings, meeting Santa in the Square followed by the first holiday movie The Grinch with friends. I guess all that inspired the "decking the halls" part of our Sunday... or maybe it happened because of the window of warmer weather.

September 29, 2015

November 03 - November 09, 2014 | Week 45

Let November begin.

This week, I started with Studio Calico's Walden November 2014 Project Life kits. I wanted to complement those cards I chose from those kits, so I brought in Becky Higgins Coral Core kit. I have been really working hard at using the Studio Calico kits for each of their intended months, but I am finding I can't make it a cohesive spread without digging through my stash of extra cards. I also found that blue and red pattern on the right in an old 6x6 Basic Grey paper pad. It worked perfectly for my color scheme I was going with. Score! I won't even tell you how long I wasted looking for that perfect something. Oye.

This week the kids had puzzle craziness in the basement. Sam had some cuddles with John right after getting off the bus from his morning Kindergarten. Giving that baby cuddles and kisses is still his first thing he wants to do when he gets off that bus. We found some super bargains at Target with after Halloween sales, and the kids got their school picture back too.

A little baby is officially half way to ONE! How did that happen? There was plenty of jumping time in the jumper, we had a lunch at McDonald's with a little play time too, I got some crafty shopping, and a little girl continued to work on cleaning her room.

September 21, 2015

October 31, 2014 | Week 44 - Halloween

Because I couldn't leave my album without Halloween pictures.

Like I posted last time, Week 44 was the week that I attempted "Week in the Life." I was all about keeping all of those pictures in their own little mini album to tell the story of that week, but I just couldn't handle not having Halloween pictures in our family Project Life album. So... I just went ahead and created a layout in my Project Life album just for that special occasion.

It was all about Star Wars for us in this household. Our kids are complete nuts... but then again, so are the big people too! I included a big shot of the family dressed and ready for Trick-or-Treating. I also included a few shots from the kids' classroom party too. The title card is from Becky Higgins Sunshine Core Kit Edition.

Even with the crummy weather, the kids still had a blast. The "Stats" card was from a Studio Calico Halloween Project Life add-on. The others I created using the Studio Calico Halloween stamp set that was sold last year.

September 11, 2015

October 27 - November 02, 2014 | Week 44

The week I attempted "Week in the Life."

This was the first week that I not only attempted "Week in the Life," but I actually completed it. I have tried this monster of a task before. I usually make it through noon of the first day. Then, I just stop taking pictures. I can handle taking a picture a day for the last 6 years, but I can't handle taking a picture every minute like that for a whole week.

If you aren't familiar with "Week in the Life," you can jump on over to Ali Edward's Blog to read more about it HERE.

Since my plan is to have a complete detailed album filled with our daily routines for this week, I still wanted to have something in my Project Life Album. I chose to document our nightly story time. It happens each and every night. I love how this fell together.

This spread was created using My Mind's Eye Record It! Splendid Collection. Blogged about it a while back on their old blog. You can see that post right HERE.